Texts of Islam

The Prophets, Their Lives and Their Stories: `Uzair (Ezra) Iramyâ' (Jeremiah): Owners of The Ditch

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This is a passage of Islamic exegesis (tafsir) explaining Quran verses 4–8 of Surah Al-Buruj, which refer to "the owners of the ditch" — persecutors who burned believers alive. The text presents multiple historical interpretations: one locates the event in Abyssinia, where a Jewish king massacred followers of a Christian prophet; another identifies the perpetrator as Dhu Nuwas, the last Himyarite king of Yemen, who burned Christians in Najran after converting to Judaism. A third narration, attributed to the Prince of Believers (Ali), connects the "ditch" motif to the Zoroastrians (Magi), whose king allegedly committed incest while drunk and then massacred those who condemned it. The author concludes that all three accounts can be simultaneously valid, since tyrannical rulers throughout history have imitated one another's atrocities, and the Quranic verse encompasses them all under a single moral principle. Notable details include miraculous speech attributed to a two-month-old infant who encouraged his mother to enter the flames, and casualty figures cited at roughly 20,000–21,000 dead. The piece reads as a traditional commentary aimed at readers already familiar with the Quran, synthesizing competing narrations rather than adjudicating between them.

The Prophets, Their Lives and Their Stories: `Uzair (Ezra) Iramyâ' (Jeremiah): Owners of The Ditch

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